Green Smoothie Love

These smoothies have really become a big part of my life. I didn't have time to make them the past two months because of my work schedule so I was over the moon to get back to it.  This particular batch contains spinach, cucumber, pineapple, apple and banana.

If you are a smoothie lover, green or not, here are two things I have learned from my concoctions.

1. If you want something fresh and frothy, cucumber is your friend.  Cucumber has the ability to take a sweet drink and make it almost ice cream like. It's amazing.

2. If you want something creamy, banana is the ingredient you need to add. When I first started making green smoothies, I hesitated adding banana to spinach. I don't know why considering I was loving the spinach/pineapple combination. When I finally did it, I was blown away.

As I learn tips, I will share them here.  In the meantime, if you have any tips, please comment below.

Care Packages

My husband is the only person in the world I know that would call his family and ask for a care package of potato chips. Yep, they mailed him two huge boxes of Utz potato chips which we cannot find in Kansas.

He is enjoying 24 bags of plain and sour cream and onion chips. 12 bags each! I still can't believe they indulged him like this, but we need what we need and this man needed his Utz!

Tardy For The End of Summer Party

Even though many consider Labor Day to be the end of summer, some of us are still getting in those last BBQs and cookouts. Some of you are taking those last summer camping trips before you pack away the gear and hunker down for the fall/winter.

Well, my friends over at Hershey’s--yes, they are my friends now. Anyone that sends me such a great Easter basket is my friend for life! I’m on the tail end of this announcement, but my FRIENDS over at Hershey’s set up a special S’mores-Camp Bondfire campaign to help you end the summer in sugary goodness.

While some consider S’mores to be the perfect summer camping/cookout treat, I consider it the perfect fall Bon Fire/Tailgating treat. What’s better for a cool night than a warm, chocolate-ty, gooey S’mores. Nothing better. So while Hershey’s is finishing up this campaign, I encourage you all to go over to the Facebook page and tell them how much you are looking forward to the Fall S’more Snuggle. (Yes, I made that up!)

While my late post won’t get you in the running for any of the awesome prizes they gave away, take a look at some of the pictures and stories others have shared. I’m sure there will be a lot of great ideas for kicking off an awesome fall season.

Healthy and Sexy

What do you get when you mix De Wafelbakkers whole grain pancakes, vegan cream cheese, a banana and strawberries? Well, you get what I consider a healthy, simple and very sexy breakfast--or anytime meal as I did not actually eat this for breakfast.



Seriously, if my fiancé served me this as breakfast in bed, I would love him forever…or at least until it was time for another great meal.
De Wafelbakkers is a new brand to me. They had a booth at Blissdom 2012 letting us sample their whole grain and flax seed pancakes. I love these pancakes and the best thing is, you don’t need any syrup. These babies are quite tasty on their own. But that standalone flavor also makes them prime candidates for accepting toppings. They provided us a recipe card for a Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich but you could easily top this with cream cheese (as I did), Nutella or any other nut butter you have around the house. You could also be very boring and just add syrup but I dare you to break out of the box and ditch the sugar-laden topper.

De Wafelbakkers provided other goodies to Blissdom attendees but none tops the chance to make a video to become their spokesperson. One of the great things that Blissdom brought to me was an opportunity to break out of my shell. I jumped at the chance of making a video for their great product and if nothing comes from it, I did something I never thought I would do.

Boy Tested And Approved

I am quite smitten with my pre-assembled smoothie packs that I put together. The amount I put into each pack is the perfect size for making a smoothie that just the right size for meal replacement. One of the biggest struggles I have at times are with portion control so this keeps me from over indulging even if it is on something so healthy. I do like having the extra vitamin boost of having the sea vegetables (wakame) included but it does take some extra blending to break up the wakame flakes. But when I encounter flakes that didn’t break up well, I just swallow them and move on.

The true test for the acceptability of the flakes was to try it out on the future hubby. The boy was in town for the weekend visiting. I couldn’t have been happier to see anyone else on this earth! As soon as I saw him, the worries of the week melted away and I was able to forget and just get wrapped up in love. Saturday, I made the boy a simple breakfast of boiled eggs, toast and a smoothie. I’m also trying to get him to be more mindful of portion sizes so it was a stretch to have such a simple breakfast. I put extra effort into making it look really pretty.



I held my breath as he took his first sip of smoothie which was blended with vanilla milk--he is not a big fan of the almond or soy milks that I prefer. He absolutely loved it and even more he loved my presentation which he deemed to be very “French”. I don’t know about that but I very happy to know that he enjoyed it. I’m one step closer to convincing him that simple eating can be quite enjoyable. Every meal doesn’t need meat and every meal doesn’t need elaborate ingredients.
So, my recent smoothie mix is boy tested and approved! If you find a favorite smoothie blend that works for you, let me know about it.

Smoothie Base

When I decide to add something new to my life, I like to make it as simple as possible so as not to become a burden. In this case I am re-incorporating something that I absolutely love…Smoothies! I have had this book since college and it has been well used and well loved.

I do have some favorite recipes marked in the book, but for right now I’m going to use the book more for information and inspiration rather than exact recipes. Good fruit is scarce in the grocery stores right now so putting together a good base of fruit is difficult. I decided to keep things simple and basic. I like to keep the main ingredients frozen so no ice is needed. I used to keep the chopped fruit in individual containers in the freezer and take out what was needed for the specific recipe I was making. This time I decided to go even more simple and do individual bags with all the ingredients needed to make one smoothie.

The base ingredients I am using are bananas, cranberries, blueberries, wakame flakes and brewers yeast. As other fruits are available in the house, I can add them to the blender when making the smoothie.
One of the things I love about the Smoothies for Life book is that it gives you basic information about every ingredient used so you know exactly why it is beneficial in the smoothie. With this information, you can adjust ingredients as needed for the benefits you are seeking. Here is a bit of information about the ingredients I am using.
Bananas-great source of pectin (fiber) and add protection to the stomach from ulcers. Good source of B6 and potassium which lowers the risks of heart disease and hypertension respectively. They add a creamy texture and thickness to the smoothie.
Blueberries-aid in preventing bladder infections and reduces inflammation.
Cranberries-aid in the growth of collagen, aid in preventing bladder infections, reduces inflammation.
Sea Vegetables--The book recommends Algae or Kelp but I had Wakame in the cabinet so I decided to use it. I found some information on this site.
Sea vegetables are a good source of minerals and trace minerals. They also contain good levels of magnesium, potassium, folate, vitamin K, calcium and iron as well as protein. They are especially rich in iodine which is crucial for a healthy metabolism and thyroid function.Brewer Yeast Flakes-excellent source of B vitamins and chromium, aiding in blood sugar regulation and energy production. Also aids in prevention and treatment of heart disease.
The wakame flakes were the only ingredient that needed some prepping before hand. These flakes need to be soaked in water to really be incorporated while blending.
I soaked some flakes in water. Because they do expand, not much is needed.
I divided the bananas (chopped), cranberries and blueberries into 10 zipper sandwich bags. To that, I added one teaspoon of both the wakame flakes and the brewers yeast.

The bags were promptly sealed and put into the freezer.
The liquid base of my smoothies will be almond milk and I will sweeten as needed with honey. I’m not sure how many calories each smoothie will have but I’m going more for the nutrients and energy boost than any kind of weight loss supplement. I love a cup of coffee in the morning, but I love having energy throughout the day even more so I am looking forward to adding smoothies back into my daily routine. I’ll update with a taste review after I’ve mixed the first one. This is my first time using the wakame flakes so it will be interesting to see if the other ingredients mask the salty-sea flavor.